Fragmented Culture and Management. No Growth.
Pros
Big Firm, Big projects, Good benefits, and you can negotiate a good salary. The engineering side is a great team to work with. Matrix organization provides project based leadership opportunities
Cons
Last year they blocked USB ports and all data transfer websites like drop box and google drive so that no one can take work with them or reference past work which can feel like slavery with no end. On the architecture side there is no culture of promoting within and if you try to move up by taking on new roles and responsibilities this can end in a bad way. Leadership is either hired externally or transferred from the USA. In the past the architecture leadership has been led by an engineer which causes a lot of tension. 80% of HDR's work is TA technical advisory work which will never be built so if you have aspirations of doing professional paper architecture and engineering for a living this is the place to be. This can also create issues with time management because unlike real projects that are executed this work is time and materials billing so you just keep charging your client until they are angry and ask you to stop billing them. Projects can continue on for months or years beyond their scope. There was a reported a case of racism with one of the HR managers who stated that "immigrants will not be good managers because they are too emotional" and "Women do not make good CEO's", after this was reported nothing happened and there was no accountability with senior leadership.
